


Stories of the Second Self: Ground Zero

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [132]
Category: National Guard - Fandom, Police - Fandom, Urban Fantasy - Fandom, lockdown - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:13:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Officer Cole Chaney describes his experiences in the days leading up to the federal occupation of Cincinnati in Year Zero of Alter Idem.
Series: Alter Idem [132]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Ground Zero

At some level, I'm sure we all knew this was coming. Social tensions and violence got so bad that I caught myself missing the old "new normal" of nonstop political party food fights. At least then I was sure that mine and my daughter's secret was safe from discovery.

My church held a sort of coming out revival for supernaturals. As Episcopalians we generally tip-toe around the word revival, and in my head it compares to closely with madrassa and jihad. In a sense, that's exactly what happened, only it wasn't the people at my church who were the radicals.

It was around ten thirty when it happened. We all heard the loud bang, and most people assumed that someone had dropped something in the back rooms of the church. I'd heard other sounds that shouldn't go on in a quiet city, so I excused myself from the mass and started going down the halls toward where I heard it.

I never got to the room that my ears were saying was the source. A louder blast interrupted everything, and the whole building shook. My first instinct was running back to get Jaclynn, my daughter out of the church. Trying to dial 911 after fishing my phone out in a run, I screwed that up a few times before I could get the number right.

Funny. I, a cop, shouldn't be the one who blows something so simple as dialing 911. But I did, and I felt stupid after the fact. However, I got Jaclynn out and was starting to head back in. My priest also was assisting in evacuation, staying by the vestibule doors to do a head count as he directed for people to calmly exit.

After, he and some deacons were walking up and down the sanctuary to be sure no one was left. The rest of us stayed out, and I made sure to remind people to keep a healthy distance from the church. The fire department arrived along with on-duty officers. News crews were onsite within twenty minutes, and after a couple hours the feds were on the scene. Yet, we weren't the top story of the day, and didn't even make the news.

They used to joke that evangelicals were America's Taliban. I never liked harping on other people's religion, but this time the judgment was close. Simultaneous attacks across the country were waged with a level of timing that even Al-Qaeda in their heyday would've envied. Their biggest target was in Washington DC, rather several targets.

See, the news crews who came to report on our church being bombed ended up setting out several flat screens for those of us who could bring ourselves to watch the live national news reports. The Lincoln Memorial was nearly leveled, and the MLK Memorial severely damaged. Speculation was all over the map, until a breaking news interrupt revealed why the U.S. house of representatives wing of the capital building was smoking.

For several minutes, I couldn't move or speak as I heard and saw the twitter post of an elected representative, who claimed he was striking at satanic forces. Federal agencies wouldn't comment on whether he was part of the capital building bombing, but it was looking increasingly like he was. However, the arrests I watched on the screen were of a couple capital police officers who were suspected to have helped skirt security.

The house representative was himself killed in the blast that collapsed most of the chamber. Comparisons to the Edward R. Murrow Building Bombing repeatedly came up, and that's when I couldn't watch anymore.

Cops. That's what kept ringing in my mind days later. Two police officers in DC, charged with protecting not only the public, but also democracy itself, had a hand in this. Whispers in the department about what that would mean were everywhere, and then one day our worst suspicions were confirmed.

It was a Thursday when I walked a cuffed suspect to my car. She was a member of a class of street gang, which we increasingly called street packs. Human gangs were rapidly shrinking, as they were driven out of Norwood neighborhoods or switching over to become werewolves. I was the go-to cop to deal with them, being a werewolf myself.

Then, out of the blue, I saw a convoy of army vehicles drive down the street where my patrol car was parked. Stryker combat vehicles were at the head and tail of the long green snake that rolled by, two lanes wide.

It was Day One of the Federal Occupation. I'm Senior Patrolman Cole Chaney, and I don't know if I'll have a job Friday.


End file.
